Pandora's Cards
by Red Gull
Summary: Sakura lives a peaceful life as a travelling performer, but when strange cards appear heralding misery, her life is irreversably changed. She must put more than her life on the line to save not only her friends, but all of mankind.
1. Prologue: The Forbidden Jar

Disclaimer: I do not own CCS, or any associated characters (unfortunately)

Anyhow...this is my first CCS story, so I hope it's all right. This is just the prologue, the real first chapter will (most likely) come out tomorrow...

If anyone was wondering, yes, Syaoran is in this story, but he doesn't come in until later.

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**Pandora's Cards**

Chapter 1

_Prologue:_

_**The Forbidden Jar**_

A long time ago, before the birth of civilisation, the gods fashioned the first woman.

Pandora was created as a punishment to mankind; for they had been gifted with fire stolen from the Gods.

Hephaestus created her from clay, shaping her perfectly, Aphrodite gave her femininity and Athena taught her crafts. Hermes was ordered by Zeus to teach her to be deceitful, stubborn and curious.

Before she was sent to live with mankind, Pandora was given a jar that the Gods claimed held gifts, yet forbade her to ever open. Eventually, curiosity overcame her resolve, and she decided to open it. Yet once the lid was lifted, all of the evils and hardships the gods had placed in the jar escaped into the world to plague mankind. In fear, Pandora hurriedly shut lid, trapping only hope, which must always follow evil, inside. It is in this way that Zeus' will was carried out.

The story, however, continues.

From within the jar Pandora could hear the most beautiful melody. It dried her tears and brought her out of despair. Pandora knew that no evil could make a sound so pure, and thus realised that she must once again open the jar. Upon opening the lid, a pure white dove flew out and identified itself as Hope. Pandora begged Hope to return all of the evils into the jar, for by now mankind was destroying itself. Hope explained that it was impossible, what is done cannot be undone, but offered instead another solution, confining the evil in another form. Thus all of the evils unleashed on mankind were turned into cards by Hope, and although the evil still lingered in the darkest corners of the hearts of men, their destruction was prevented. Pandora lived on as the guardian of the cards, and when she died her children after her became guardians. The cards exist to this day, and are known as Pandora's Cards.

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I know, nothing happened in this chapter; I was just setting the background for the next chapter. The first part of the story is pretty much identical to the myth of Pandora's box, but the second part I added to suit my needs :D

Review if you like the idea (puppy dog eyes)


	2. The First Card

Okay, here's the 2nd chapter! It's much more story-like than the prologue. You will probably realise in this chapter that this story is rated T for violence.

Thank you very much to KaidaPoi for reviewing ^_^

**Disclaimer: **I do not own CCS or any associated characters

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**Pandora's Cards**

Chapter 2

**_The First Card_**

I could have laughed in elation. The beat was strong, and my body seemed to channel the music effortlessly. Beside me I could feel Tomoyo, and behind me Chiharu, Naoko and Rika, all of us dancing as one. With our dresses the colour of flames, and the torches casting a flickering orange glow over us, we were on fire. A crowd had gathered, watching these 5 girls cut a path through the evening air, with bright ribbons and sheets of gauze swirling behind us. When I danced it felt as if all the weight had been lifted off my shoulders, as if I was floating in a world created by the rhythm. As the last cord was played we slowed and came to a stop, our motion frozen and ribbons finally still by our sides. The audience applauded and we allowed ourselves a few minutes of satisfaction at the chiming of coins being thrown. Now that the opening had finished, the townsfolk dissipated to other performances that were starting.

"Good work girls! Now quick, change for your other performances!" called out Sonomi, Tomoyo's mother. She was, strictly speaking, not a performer, but everybody knew that nights like tonight wouldn't go half as smoothly as they did without her constant micro-management. We all rushed to our wagon to wipe off our makeup and change into clothing more appropriate for our acts. I waved goodbye to Tomoyo, who ran off carrying a harp, and made my way to the centre of the plaza where I could see my elder brother raising himself of the ground with one arm and other acrobats doing various tricks. I pushed my way through the crowd and cartwheeled into the cleared space, joining the act. I could feel the summer breeze against my face, and inhaled its sweetness deeply before somersaulting up onto Touya's shoulders. The crowd roared, and I was on top of the world.

The next morning was a quiet one. All the performers were tired from last night, but we had needed the money. In times such as these, it was difficult for a performance troupe to survive. Spectators had less to spare; money and time. I sat, only half awake, in front of the burnt out camp fire, only looking up when dad handed me a thick slice of fruit bread. We didn't normally get fruit bread; a baker must have been feeling generous last night.

"Do you think there's going to be a storm?" I asked Tomoyo, looking doubtfully at the sky. The clouds were rolling in, and everyone knows that when a summer storm starts brewing, it's time to seek shelter.

"Our wind-catcher hasn't been humming, so it'll probably be a light shower or something. Don't worry," she said, catching my doubtful look, "this is reliable magic we're talking about; it doesn't lie." Her words reassured me, and my thoughts turned to adventure.

"After breakfast lets go to that forest we saw a while back! If it's going to rain, then we might be able to see the rain spores!" The part of the country we were in was famous for the spores released by the native fungi. The last time the troupe had been in the area, I had been too young to remember anything, so I could barely contain my excitement.

"Wait, kaiju, not without your dagger."

"Touyaaa, I'm already taking my bow, and you know I don't like using blades. And stop calling me that!" Sometimes my brother could be annoyingly cautious.

"I'm not saying you have to use it, just...take it." I rolled my eyes and sighed heavily as I returned to my tent to grab the leather pouch with my dagger. I didn't really mind handling blades, but the thought of using them made me feel shivery all over. I suppose it had something to do with my mum.

As we walked down the empty road, Tomoyo and I started to sing.

_There's a queen, a joker, make  
A wish and hope the future sees  
The things that you will never be  
So find a place to keep your dreams_

_Wish upon the lonely star  
It doesn't matter just how far  
Because your dreams fall on deaf ears  
You'll never just forget the fears  
_

_Oh, take a sword and fight your way  
Through the shadows fight head on  
Don't run away  
_

_If you make it to the dawn  
You'll find that ray of light within your heart  
And that is when your life will start_

We had almost run out of songs to sing when the trees finally started to thicken, and before long we couldn't see even catch a glance of the sky through the heavy canopy of green. We bagged a few rabbits as we waited for the rain. I smelt it first, before I ever heard or saw or felt it. There's just something so distinctive about the smell of rain. Then I felt it, a slight drop of coldness on my bare arm. We waited, our eyes eagerly darting over the landscape.

"There!" cried out Tomoyo, her arm outstretched to her right. I quickly turned my head in time to see what looked like a cloud of blue smoke dissipating in the wind. Concentrating, I watched as a drop of rain that had filtered through the overhead fell on a plump looking mushroom. Instantly the mushroom released a cloud of spores a delicate shade of gold. Soon the air was filled with bursts of blue and gold spores, shimmering as the slight wind carried them away. I reached out my hand, to see if I could catch some of the shimmering colour, but it was like trying to catch smoke. It was beautiful.

The last wisps of colour faded, but the rain only fell harder. I was soaked to the bone and water streamed down my back. Just 10 minutes ago the air had been warm and pleasant, but now it was cold and unfriendly. I had a bad feeling, the slight premonition that knocks in the back of your mind just before something bad happens.

Above the pounding roar of the vicious rain battering the trees rose a mournful wail. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

"Tomoyo, do you hear that?" Tomoyo shook her head.

"No, hear what?"

"The wailing!" I tightened my grip on her arm.

"Hmmm…perhaps it's a banshee?"

"A…a banshee?" She just laughed at the alarmed expression on my face and pinched my cheeks.

"You're so cute when you're scared, Sakura." I was about to stomp on her foot, but at that moment the wailing grew louder. I could make out movement through the almost solid wall of rain. And then I was suddenly knocked to the ground, wet hands tightly wound around my neck.

It was a woman, the woman who, I knew instinctively, had been wailing. Her matted black hair hung down and tickled my face, and her cold, clammy hands screamed death. I turned my head to see Tomoyo sprawled on the ground, and I tried to call out her name, but I didn't have enough air. I'm not if it was because I was going dizzy for lack of oxygen, but I think I saw tears in the mad woman's eyes.

I tried to push her off, but her vice-like grip was unrelenting. My fingers could find no hold on hers, and my struggling grew weaker with every moment. I had only one option left. My fingers found the leather pouch, and I drew my dagger. With the last of my strength I drove the blade upwards into the woman on top of me. Later I would ask myself if killing her was necessary, but even if I had tried to only disable her, I didn't have the strength to aim properly.

I hated the feel of that blood, so warm, yet ice cold. Her grip loosened, and I gasped with each painful breath. When I finally felt as if I could breathe properly without tearing a rip in my lungs, I pushed the dead woman off me. I staggered to my feet and immediately made my way to Tomoyo's side. I could have cried with relief when I found her not only breathing, but coming back to consciousness.

"Tomoyo! Are you all right?" She took a while to answer.

"I-I think something hit me and then I passed out…Sakura! Why are you covered in blood?" I grimaced and told her about the woman who'd attacked me. As I looked down on her corpse, something caught my eye. The corner of something black poking out of her breast pocket. I leant down and picked it up. It was a card, blacker than the darkest night, and completely dry despite the soaking rain. I turned it around and my blood ran cold at the word printed in letters so dark they seemed to jump out at me:

_Despair_

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Good? Bad? Please review and let me know! I won't pester, but you may as well  
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